Hi all - been wishing to start detecting for some time - did a little as a teenager - but that was very long time ago.

I have purchased a Garrett 400i - after much research (and noting how many seasoned people on here seem to have one among their collection of detectors) - hoping its something usable and can be kept if I become any way proficient !

Feel a bit daunted by setting out and will try and find a club - but this weekend will be my start:

Question - I have access to a 32 acre plot - it has mixture of woods, lake with some fast flowing off shoot from a weir with banks and a few equestrian fields and stables (so I guess that will find me lots of non valuable metal?)

None of the land has been fresh ploughed and has been in same family for decades etc - so not alot of traffic outside of the family members I guess - is this a good place to start or total waste as will just confuse me?
Is there and ideal start point (other than burying coins,rings in the garden - already got red card for trying that after Garrett assembly on Sunday)

Every part of that 32 acres could provide you with finds,places of interest more than others would be along the water course and also the fields that have had the horses on them,those types of locations would have had folks gathering and those are the types of locations that folks could have dropped items.

But certainly dont give up on any of that site,the wooded area may have very large old trees that folks could of hand swing on the trees and as a result items do get lost,about 3 years back i found 2 Viccy Sovereign under a large tree right in the middle of a field,it transpires it was a favourite swing site and folks lost 2 lovely pieces of gold.

Good luck and always respect the landowner land as more than often if you look aafter it and show all your finds and fill your holes back in again,then word of mouth can be a massive bonus for other local landowner,but also if you dont respect the current land then you could also say good bye on other local as well.

It would be a rare piece of land in this country that hasn't been walked upon and something lost.
I metal detected my parents small garden and got a george 6th 1946 penny, that predates their bungalow when it was orchards!
I'm new myself, there is a barrier when you start, where you dig up loads of crap and swear at your machine... get frustrated and want to give up. Then something clicks and you start listening to it... at least that is what happened to me. So don't give up, it'll click and then it'll be so much easier.

Big old tree's!!! I don't have any on my permission, but if you do I'd be on them like a rash.
Oh... also google earth, you can do a time thing with the photo's, on a dry season you sometimes can see old foundations of buildings or oddities.

The Garret 400i is a good machine and stable for the range it is in, you will have fun and will surely find a few good targets.

Your'e Permission sounds very good to be honest and you have a bit of everything to be able to test the new detector. Buildings/woods/fields/lakes/banks Am sure you will find multiple targets from all ages.

Thank you all very much - that has given me some confidence and of course you are all right - the area has had the original farm cottage on it for over 100 years and so many Horsey folk have probably dropped by

I wish i knew how to get that google photos thing to work where it shows historic photos

One interesting point I forgot is that there is the remains of a stone building with what looks like originally slate work surfaces right by the Weir - it only has about a foot of walls remaining - with huge trees growing through the middle- So I might start there

I will try and keep the forum posted - thanks again -

any suggestions of settings for 400i welcome - I still have it on what Detecnicks showed me in the shop before I put it all together first few blocks off 35 to 45 on 60 to 90 on - Sunday I found a piece of rusted garden tool in the only 5 mins I got to use Garrett - before wife's red card for destroying lawn. (it is actually impossible to see where my carefully researched flap was made - as have read both Dave Crisp and Stuckey books)

Hi from a fellow newbie in Hants, I have been very lucky and I was invited out by some very experienced detectorist on pasture and woodland site, and i was amazed at what was found, you could use a site like "side by side" mapping to look at old maps of the area. But the best thing i was shown was, what iron looks and sounds like and how to discriminate it out, but also dig every thing until you no what your tones and ID numbers correspond to what you find.
Good luck

Welcome and good luck on your permission from a fellow 400i user, tend to use mine on Custom, 2 bars off max sensitivity, iron audio off and discrim out below 60. This has found all metals except Gold, although it did find Gold plated.
The link Steve T has posted to nls is very useful and I use it a lot. I tend to use the side by side feature which shows modern aerial alongside the older maps. I also look at all the old maps they feature, as sometimes you can tell when a building has disappeared.
Basically you won`t know what`s there. till you walk over it.
Good Luck and look forward to seeing some of your finds.
Cheers
Dave

32 acres sounds like a good place to start out!
Dig everything at first, respect the land, show the owners everything, dont worry if its just iron at first.
We all dig it starting out, and some days even now you cant escape the stuff, but give it time and the good finds will follow

Jesus!!! That's brilliant. How can i be so blind as to not see it. This place is amazing.

Dom, there is a massive amount of good stuff, including links that are fantastic resources, in the Research section and I am sure you are not the only person to have missed them.

I very strongly recommend all newbies to the hobby and forum to have a good read through the Research section as they will gain a massive amount of information that will assist them in getting the best out of thier permissions and IDing finds.

Hi all - been wishing to start detecting for some time - did a little as a teenager - but that was very long time ago.

I have purchased a Garrett 400i - after much research (and noting how many seasoned people on here seem to have one among their collection of detectors) - hoping its something usable and can be kept if I become any way proficient !

Feel a bit daunted by setting out and will try and find a club - but this weekend will be my start:

Question - I have access to a 32 acre plot - it has mixture of woods, lake with some fast flowing off shoot from a weir with banks and a few equestrian fields and stables (so I guess that will find me lots of non valuable metal?)

None of the land has been fresh ploughed and has been in same family for decades etc - so not alot of traffic outside of the family members I guess - is this a good place to start or total waste as will just confuse me?
Is there and ideal start point (other than burying coins,rings in the garden - already got red card for trying that after Garrett assembly on Sunday)

ANy advice very welcome

Phillip

Rhincondon, welcome to this fascinating hobby and the forum.

I started with the Garrett 250, which is fantastic value and a great starter machine, but since then Garrett have brought out the 400i which has had very positive comments on here so I am sure you have made a good choice of machine.

It sounds like you have a very good permission to start with.
My feeling is that the "lake with some fast flowing off shoot from a weir" with "the remains of a stone building with what looks like originally slate work surfaces right by the weir" could be an old mill. Check some old maps on the links provided. If so there would be both the miller working there and farmers bringing corn to be milled and merchants taking the flour away, so there would be a reasonable footfall and trade - so could be a good area to start.
The lake and stream could also have been fished so anglers might have dropped items on the banks.
Woods would have kids playing and people getting timber for use on the farm and firewood so again plenty of chances for coins to be dropped.
Equine fields always have a decent footfall due to people around the horses, also if they do any jumping riders can fall off! and when they do drop items from thier pockets.
There is also a reasonable chance that there could be old footpaths across the permission so check for these.

So to me it sounds a very good place to start your detecting, with a wide range of options - unlike many people who only have say old pasture (like myself!).